


Always Winter, Never Christmas

by EvilMuffins



Category: Kakumeiki Valvrave | Valvrave the Liberator
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, Running Away, Snow, Yuletide 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-09 15:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8897923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: When someone holds half of your life in his hands, it’s often quite difficult to make a refusal.---Lieselotte agrees to come away with L-elf the first time he asks.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [logorrhea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/logorrhea/gifts).



> I want to thank you for such a lovely request. You've single-handedly reawakened my love for this wonderful ship! I hope you have a lovely Yuletide, New Years, and holidays in general!

“Michael, I-“ Lieselotte began. L-elf could just make out the pained expression on her face in the darkness- delicate brows furrowed, lips drawn downward, her ornate makeup only exaggerating the effect.

“Come away with me,” he repeated again, as if he were hoping that the words had been merely whisked away by the night air the first time he had spoken them to her just moments before. “Just say the word. I’ll take you back with me….or…we’ll go somewhere just the two of us, if that’s what you’d like.”

She should have said no; she knew that she should have. Although she was hardly out of childhood to her own kind, Lieselotte had seen hundreds of years more than L-elf had, and more than he ever would still. She should have known better.

“Alright.”

When someone holds half of your life in his hands, it’s often quite difficult to make a refusal.

There was no path for them, she had told him as much, but Lieselotte found that she wanted to believe in the possibility that they could make one together. All of this was in the grander sense, of course. At the moment at hand, L-elf had already eradicated the soldiers who had come after them, their corpses littering the cold white ground like fish washed up after the tide onto a bleached shoreline.

They soon found that, by some miracle, the car still worked. Overall, it was terribly encouraging, and Lieselotte couldn’t help but feel a modicum of hope bubbling up inside of her chest as he she slid into the passenger seat, her body shuddering from a sudden chill, or perhaps the thrill of what she had just agreed to.

“No keys,” L-elf murmured, clearly not expecting them to have been left there, leaning across her to scavenge in the glovebox.

Even without directly touching him, she could feel the warmth radiating off of his body as he stirred up the contents- the vehicle’s owner was clearly anything but a neat-freak.

L-elf made a soft grunt of victory, pulling out a small kit, possibly of the type used for sewing emergencies, although it was hard to see in the dark.

After a few moments of tinkering, the car burbled to life. The sound quickly switched to a groan as L-elf forced it to operate immediately in the cold, taking off down the street, lights off so as not to attract attention.

They rode in silence, L-elf being his characteristic man-of-few-words, and Lieselotte feeling as if any sort of speech breathed out into the small space would break the spell, and she’d be back in her chambers with Cain, both runes and herself being taken.

As she watched his face, silhouetted by the moon while he kept a careful eye on the road, Lieselotte vaguely wondered if he had been taught how to drive at the institute, of it came naturally to him somehow. She wouldn’t doubt anything with this boy. They had only met twice now, and yet she had seen him do so much more than any other mortal human she had ever witnessed.

She had heard of people falling asleep during long car trips, and it was late at night, however she found herself too jittery with the thrill of the unknown as she watched the city grow further and further out of sight.

After an hour or more, the car slowed to a halt.

“We’re stopping here?” Lieselotte asked, as if it weren’t obvious the moment the car ceased moving, however L-elf wasn’t always the best at volunteering explanations if not prompted.

“We ran out of gas, but I think that we might be far enough away for now. It’s fairly secluded out here.”

Indeed it was. Lieselotte leaned forward to better take in the view from the windshield- the tree cover was so thick that the bright moon was little more than a memory, the falling snow hardly able to find its way through the tree tops.

The driver side door opened as L-elf let himself out. “It’s important to stretch our muscles now and then, so we can stay limber in the case that we have to flee on foot again.”

Liselotte slid out as well, the snow crunching under her feet.

“Are you cold?” she asked. Although she had on her winter cloak, L-elf still only wore the same uniform that he would have indoors.

He shook his head, face softening now that they were no longer in any immediate danger. “I’m fine. As long as I know that you’re safe, I don’t think that I could ever feel cold again.”

Lieselotte snorted softly, a little puff of breath coming along with it. For someone so serious, L-elf could be awfully silly at times. Reaching out a mitten-clad hand, Lieselotte wrapped her small hands around one of L-elf’s, bare despite the harsh Dorssian winter, bringing it to her lips to breathe warm air over.

The boy’s eyes widened, mouth slightly agape. Clearly he had never expected to any part of his person to ever be so close to the princess’s lips.

She took pity on him, refraining from warming the other hand. Rather, she allowed their hands to fall at their sides between them, keeping them clasped as best one could while wearing wooly mittens.

“Perhaps we should survey the area, and see what’s around. Maybe we could find something to eat?”

Although Magius didn’t need to eat human food in order to survive, she would still feel hungry without it. Even so, the offer was really just little more than a chance to explore.

They wandered for a time, allowing their footprints to mark the trail back to car.

What with L-elf having both longer legs and the purposeful gait of a soldier, Lieselotte soon found herself tottering behind as the snow grew deeper. Eventually, she felt a terrible gripping sensation in her stomach as the snowy ground rose to meet her, her foot having snagged in a root.

The snow made a little ‘ _pfft_ ’ noise as she dropped face-first into the stuff, her hand slipping out of L-elf’s.

“Lieselotte!” L-elf shouted, spinning around to pull her back up. He kneeled, hoisting her into a sitting position as he looked her over. “I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

Lieselotte began to nod, however the gentle hand on her cheek stopped her. Fingers still cold as ice, he carefully brushed the snow from her rosy cheeks.

“Michael…”

If he didn’t expect his hands to be anywhere near the princess’s lips tonight, he certainly in his wildest dreams never fathomed that his own lips might have the honor of touching hers.

Brief and sweet, much like a human life to the Magius, it was over nearly before it started, although the warmth between them lingered as they rose to wade through the snow once more, no words daring to pass between them into stillness.

Eventually, the two could see more light passing through the trees. There was a clearing up ahead. Imbued with the type of glee that only the full moon on a clear night could give, Lieselotte found herself bounding forward into meadow, her eyes full of wonder as she gazed upward.

“Michael, look!”

Following her eyes upward, he saw it- hundreds of stars falling, whizzing through the sky- meteor shower.

Although Lieselotte had seen such things many times before during her extended lifetime, the look of wonder on the usually stoic boy’s face rendered everything anew.

Lieselotte spun in a little twirl, unfazed from having fallen earlier. She soon motioned for L-elf to join her, taking her hand once again underneath the twinkling canopy over head.

Although they didn’t know what the path before them would bring, they would face it together.

 

_End_

 


End file.
